LOS ANGELES — Andy Pages crafted his evolution one half hour at a time inside the Los Angeles Dodgers’ hitting lab at Camelback Ranch. Each day this spring coaching, Pages went by way of his routine on the staff’s Trajekt Arc pitching machine. First, he’d spend 10 minutes merely studying pitches. Next, 10 minutes calling out borderline pitches to find out not simply in the event that they have been a ball or strike, however a pitch price swinging at. Only then, in the closing 10 minutes, would he swing.
The work had a objective. Pages broke out final summer season. He made an argument to be an All-Star. But after a second half that annoyed him and an offensive postseason to overlook, he sought to be a extra full hitter. The work is paying off.
“I feel like all those days and all those repetitions I took in spring training, they’re helping me right now,” Pages advised The Athletic in Spanish.
Pages is off to a torrid begin. Through 13 video games, he’s hitting .449 with a 1.256 OPS. How he’s getting there feels sustainable.
Four plate appearances in the Dodgers’ 8-7 walk-off win over the Texas Rangers on Friday night time show why.
“Oh gosh, man,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “You just can’t say enough about what Andy’s done.”
First at-bat: Second-inning single in opposition to Kumar Rocker
To perceive the hitter Pages has develop into, it’s essential to recollect who he was. Pages’ prospect pedigree grew due to his gaudy energy numbers. He was a slugging nook outfielder with the highest common launch angle in the minor leagues and a penchant for swinging and lacking. Which makes it fascinating to observe the participant that Pages has changed into.
He remade his physique and changed into a high quality defensive heart fielder. Dodgers officers have raved about his adaptability, showcasing bat-to-ball abilities when wanted.
“He’s adapted, evolved, adjusted in all fronts,” Roberts stated.
Pages’ greatest ability set, as hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc put it this spring, is that Pages “doesn’t have any fear at all.”
That interprets when he will get to 2 strikes, even in opposition to a pitcher in Texas’ Kumar Rocker, who boasts premium stuff. Pages fell right into a 2-2 depend when Rocker landed a fastball on the outer half of the plate, which seemingly arrange the pitch that adopted. The right-hander threw Pages a slider at the similar peak, breaking additional and off the plate.
When Pages is off, it’s a pitch that he chases and swings by way of, as he did Wednesday, his worst night time of the season up to now when he went 0-for-4 with 4 strikeouts in opposition to the Toronto Blue Jays.
This time, Pages saved his weight again lengthy sufficient to strike a hard-hit floor ball by way of the proper aspect for a two-out single. His skill to make use of all fields is a ability — Pages already entered Friday with six hits to the reverse discipline, tied for the most in the majors. This gave him the lead.
“If you look at all of baseball, to see how many times he’s hit balls from line to line, he’s got to be number one in that category,” Roberts stated.
Second at-bat: Fifth-inning stroll in opposition to Rocker
Pages didn’t tackle his new routine to attempt to stroll extra. Through the season’s first 12 video games, he’d solely walked twice.
But Pages is seeing extra pitches. With that may come extra probabilities to get a pitch he can do injury on. Entering Friday, he noticed 4.48 pitches per plate look, up from the 3.78 he averaged a yr in the past. Working deeper counts received’t simply assist him stroll. It will even assist him mix into the Dodgers’ boa constrictor-like method, straining opposing pitching staffs in the course of.
In the fifth inning, with the Dodgers trailing 4-1, Pages knew what he wished to do. So he acquired one thing going.
“(He) knows exactly what he wants to do every time he gets up to bat,” Roberts stated. “There’s complete clarity and just kind of letting him be himself as a ballplayer.”
Rocker was content material to assault him low in the zone. After Pages chased a slider in the dust to start out the at-bat, he dialed issues in. Rocker threw only one pitch in the strike zone, and Pages drew a six-pitch stroll and finally got here round to attain.
Third at-bat: Sixth-inning, two-run double in opposition to Robert Garcia
It’s early, however Pages is swinging much less general this season; he’s hacked at 47.9 % of pitches this yr in comparison with 53.1 % a yr in the past. It nonetheless appears to be the proper completely happy medium between overaggressiveness and passivity.
In the sixth, the Dodgers had constructed an inning in entrance of him with a 4-2 deficit. With two on and one out, Pages wasn’t going to tug the set off for the sake of it. He wished his pitch in opposition to the lefty.
“I’m just trying to find the pitch that I can do the most damage on,” Pages stated. “It’s continuing my plan, and not changing it in the middle of the at-bat, and trying to wait for my pitch.”
So, Pages didn’t chew when Garcia tried a changeup just under the zone. Garcia left his subsequent one belt-high over the plate, however it wasn’t the pitch Pages was trying for. So he didn’t swing. Same for the subsequent two pitches — a fastball and a changeup, each under the zone to carry the depend to 3-1.
Garcia, not seeking to give in to Pages in a hitter’s depend, tried a backdoor slider. It caught some plate, however not sufficient for Pages to swing.
With a full depend, Pages was arrange for the fastball. When Garcia went to a different backdoor slider, Pages remained balanced. Once once more, he went the different method with the pitch outdoors. The ensuing groundball changed into a double the different method, bringing house each runners in entrance of him to offer the Dodgers a 5-4 lead.
“If it’s velocity, if it’s spin, if it’s a right-hander, if it’s a left-hander, he has a different club to kind of attack any kind of (pitcher) or pitch,” Roberts stated. “That’s special.”
Fourth at-bat: Eighth-inning, two-run house run off of Luis Curvelo
Don’t get it twisted. Pages can nonetheless slug, particularly when he will get the pitch he’s trying for. His 27 house runs in 2025 have been second-most on the Dodgers.
Pages’ first three journeys to the plate have been a testomony to his endurance, as he noticed a mixed 17 pitches and swung at simply 5 of them.
With the Dodgers holding a 5-4 lead, Curvelo was extra keen to problem Pages in the zone. So he tried a sinker over the coronary heart of the plate along with his first pitch. Pages took it for a known as strike.
Curvelo then tried one other sinker, which one way or the other caught much more of the plate.
Pages crushed it, his team-leading fourth house run of the season that ripped by way of the night time at Dodger Stadium to develop the Los Angeles’ edge to 7-4. Every ball Pages hit Friday night time was well-struck — every left his bat at 100 mph or tougher — however none have been higher hit than the 103.5 mph rocket he hit in his final at-bat.
There’s nonetheless a steadiness Pages has to strike between his endurance and aggressiveness. But what he’s doing is working proper now.
“It’s a little difficult,” Pages stated. “I feel like at some point I’m going to have to keep getting better at it because that’s what the best hitters in the game do. Obviously, I’m not perfect at it, but I’m trying to get better at it each day, and I feel better.”
